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I had another plan (well, half a plan...) for a Newsletter theme today, but then I received the following note, and abruptly changed my mind:

Well, now, what a charming custom is that! And as our purpose here is not only to celebrate everything together as the one large family we are, but to expand our horizons in the process, how could I resist?!?

(By word of explanation for those of y'all new to us, Domi is a Druid priestess.)

So - now all I needed was a song, a Bulgarian song, but which Bulgarian song would have anything to do with Martenitza?? I was hoping that YouTube would provide me with a clue, but if it was there, I somehow missed it. Time being short, I just picked a Bulgarian midi which appealed to me - which is a most unscientific approach, I must say, because I have no idea whatsoever it's really saying. I'm no doubt mixing celebrations. But this wonderful third bonus dance video is so delightfully exuberant, perhaps it compensates for my ignorance:

Well, there ya go - your horizons have possibly been expanded, though not necessarily correctly as far as the music is concerned.....

From Judy Phillips Allen ('66) of VA - 03/01/09, 12:48 PM - "Sunday update on

Monty (Phillips - '62 - of VA)":

Dear friends and family,

After a very scary Saturday afternoon with a crash cart in his room and 7 people around his bed ready for action, I can report a little improvement today.

Yesterday, he was given more blood, a constant drip of meds to keep his BP up and his heart going. It was very shaky to say the least. Last night, he was very agitated and tried to sit up. This caused concern about pulling tubes loose, etc. His angel nurse took a lot of time with us explaining everything. We could not stay in the room with him. It would have been counter productive so all we could do was come home and pray for the best. It happened.

Our angel told us this morning that he had a fairly restful night. They were able to stop meds for BP and his heart was improving. This morning, he was taken off the ventilator for a breathing trial and he was much more calm. She was very encouraged and so were we. He still has a long way to go before we can relax about his state of health. His surgery was very extensive and serious.

1:30 PM I just called his nurse, Angel Trish, and she said that she is thrilled with the improvement over yesterday. He will have another breathing trial before the 5 pm visitation time. Jerry and I will go in to see him at that time. At this time, he is resting as comfortably as can be expected. Trish was very encouraging. I feel so much better.

Thank you all for your prayers! They are working. God is working!

God bless you all!

Judy

From Judy Phillips Allen ('66) of VA - 03/01/09, 5:56 PM - "Sunday PM update on

Monty (Phillips - '62 - of VA)":

Hello, everybody. We just got home. Monty looks so much better. I was so relieved to see his color returning. His vitals are good now. He was on trial again from the ventilator and doing well. He was resting very calmly. His angel was right there. We talked at length. She is very pleased with his progress and his surgeon is, too. Body functions are returning to normal. As for the liver and jaundice (as I said, his color is returning to normal), they will probably do an ultrasound in the next day or two to check for a mass (I hope to rule it out). Hopefully, the liver issue was due to the bleeding ulcer and fluid leaking into the liver area and putting pressure on it.

THIS WEEK'S BIRTHDAYS:
Happy Birthday today to Alan Cohen ('57) AND Robert Shapiro ('63) of VA!

05 - Hazel Pegram Southall ('57) AND Helen Pegram Ignace ('57) AND

Jeanie Scruggs Anderson ('65) of VA;

08 -

Mildred Mae Linkous Spriggs ('38) of VA - 1921 (deceased 07/04/07) - also Mother of

Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA AND Doris Burns ('38) - also Mother of Steve Burns ('65) of MN!

Loved the "Alert".

My kids got me a sign that is above the entrance to my kitchen: "Around here ..... normal is just a setting on the dryer."

Stay warm and make a snowball for me,
Ruthie

That's delightful, Ruthie - thanks! We're fresh out of snow here (though it was about 28 degrees this morning when we left for church - BRRRR!) It all seems to have gone to Virginia and Georgia - as we'll see in the next Newsletter!

Thanks so much, Al! I've seen this before, but it fills me with awe and wonder (and a number of nagging questions!) each time I do!

Rapist's New Trick -- Please take 3 minutes and read this ... then pass it on.

RAPIST TRICK

Know what money you are carrying.. You will see why as you read.

Be sure every woman is aware of this method of operating. Share it with those you love. Know what money you are carrying. This was the first I have heard of a scheme like this. Be safe! Something very serious to pay attention to.

Criminals are coming up with craftier, less threatening methods of attack, so we have to be extra cautious.

Read on about the author who lives in Alexandria, VA.

I live in Alexandria, VA, but I often work in Lafayette, LA , staying with friends when I'm there. As you know from America 's Most Wanted TV program, as well as the news media, there is a serial killer in the Lafayette area. I just want to let you know about an "incident" that happened to me a few weeks ago, and could have been deadly.

At first I didn't go to the police or anyone with it because I didn't realize how serious this encounter was. But since I work in a jail and I told a few people about it, it wasn't long before I was paraded into Internal Affairs to tell them my story. It was approximately 5:15 a.m. In Appaloosas, La. I had stayed with a friend there and was on my way to work.

I stopped at the Exxon/Blimpie Pie station to get gas. I got $10 gas and a Diet Coke. I took into the store two $5 bills and one $1 bill (just enough to get my stuff). As I pulled away from20the store, a man approached my truck from the back side of the store (an unlit area).

He was an "approachable-looking" man (clean cut, clean shaven, dressed well, etc.). He walked up to my window and knocked. Since I'm very paranoid and 'always looking for the rapist or killer,' I didn't open the window.

I just asked what he wanted. He raised a $5 bill to my window and said, "You dropped this." Since I knew I had gone into the store with a certain amount of money, I knew I didn't drop it.

When I told him it wasn't mine, he began hitting the window and door, screaming at me to open my door, and insisting that I had dropped the money! At that point, I just drove away as fast as I could.

After talking to the Internal Affairs Department and describing the man I saw, and the way he escalated from calm and polite to angry and volatile ... it was determined that I could have possibly encountered the serial killer myself.

Up to this point, it had been unclear as to how he had gained access to his victims, since there has been no evidence of forced entry into victim's homes, cars, etc. And the fact that he has been attacking in the daytime, when women are less likely to have their guard up, means he is pretty BOLD.

So think about it...what gesture is nicer than returning money to someone that dropped it?????

How many times would you have opened your window (or door) to get your money and say thank you ...

Because if the person is kind enough to return something to you, then he can't really be a threat ... can he????

Please be cautious! This might not have been the serial killer... But anyone that gets that angry over someone not accepting money from them can't have honorable intentions. The most important thing to note is that his reaction was NOT WHAT I EXPECTED! A total surprise! But what might have happened if I had opened my door? I shudder to think!

Forward this to everyone you know ..... maybe they can be as fortunate as I was!

P.S. Ladies, really DO forward this (as a blind copy, of course) to EVERYONE you know. Even if this man wasn't a serial killer, he looked nice, he seemed polite, he was apparently doing an act of kindness, but HE WAS NOT A NICE PERSON!

As it has been a long time since we had a Train topic, the Good & Plenty jingle helped to get the brain energized again. Maybe

Captain Dave (Spriggs - '64 - of VA) can do some research in his spare time, now that he is retired and give us the name of the railroad that used the words "Bison Trail" on all of their freight cars. Believing that I would always remember the name of the railroad, my book on railroads was donated, and now need help!

The theme was derived from the pioneering methods of laying the railroad through the mountains, where the railroad engineers followed Bison (commonly known as Buffalo) through the gaps in the mountains. Not gonna say how they followed the trail of the herds...but this animal has an instinct for finding the easiest path through the mountains. Hence, the engineers laid the tracks along these paths. Yeah, I could Google, but Dave needs a new task to educate the TYPHOON Nation.

TYPHOON Regards,

WILD GIGGLES!!! Well, you how I do love that train saga, Adonis, but I'm not sure how much "spare time" the good captain has these days, as he's hard at work planning the Glorious 45-YearReunion of the Class of 1964, but I forwarded your request along to him, nevertheless.

From My #2 Daughter-in-Law, Bethany Winona Harty (Siuslaw HS, OR - '94) of TX - 02/28/09 - "TOO funny :)":

From My Friend, the Incomparable Charis Bean Duke (Governor Thomas Johnson HS, MD - '85) of NC - 02/28/09:

Oh, thank you, Charis! I miss you, too! What an honor it always was for me to sing in one of your choirs! I wish I had been able to sing with you today, too, and - uh, oh.....

Bonnie Greene Sparrow was the aunt of Becky Crenshaw (Head Cheerleader HHS-69), a former girlfriend of mine, and her sister, Anne Greene Crenshaw (NNHS-46) was a schoolmate of Howard Hodnett's ('45). The family owned Greene Furniture Company on Washington Avenue, and Anne (Becky's mom) was the daughter in law of James Crenshaw, County Supervisor of the Wythe District of Elizabeth City County for many years and the first mayor of the consolidated City of Hampton from 1952 through 1955.

Small world ...

Tom

I noticed those connections (well, most of them, anyway) as I was preparing Bonnie's Memorial Newsletter, Tom. My sincerest sympathies on the loss of your friend; she appears to have been a very vibrant woman.

Oh, not at all, Eric; I really appreciate your finding all this information for me! I only holler and moan and groan because I'm a slacker and a brat! I'm looking forward to working on all the new information you found tomorrow - truly!

..... I just saw where Paul Harvey died and I expect that you will have some tid-bit on him.

If you do, I offer the following:

In mid June of 1966 I, along with another 300 or so classmates, marched across the basketball court of the Julie Conn Gym to the sound of Pomp and Circumstance and the waving of

Dorothy Crane's arm trying to keep us all in step. Twenty four hours later I was standing at the gates of "hell" - the upper quad at Virginia Tech getting ready to start summer classes. My older brother (the late

Ray Dossett - '55) had convinced me to do this so I could take a light load in the fall, assuming that I would be pledging his fraternity and possibly be a "walk-on" with the Hokies track team (they didn't have much of a team in those days, so I had a chance). What I didn't know was that it was the summer that no girls were on campus - they were converting the girls dorm to a "jock's dorm". I had somehow missed the fact that freshmen could not have cars on campus and that my "roomie" would turn out to be hated by all of Rashe Hall and our basement dorm room was closer to hell than I wanted to be.

The one glimpse I got of the "outside world" that summer was listening to Paul Harvey every day around lunch. Most of us scheduled classes to be done by noon so we spent most of our time in the courtyard wedged between the four dorms forming the upper quad. Several of the dorm-rats had their stereo speakers placed in their windows facing onto the courtyard --- all tuned to the same radio station. The area was filled every day with 40 -50 guys passing footballs, baseballs and playing what later was to become "Ultimate Frisbee". However all of that stopped when Paul Harvey came on with the news. It was, I'm ashamed to say, the first time I actually listened to the news and didn't switch the station from WGH to WAVY or even WRAP. His delivery was unique and his commentaries were always from the middle America perspective. Later in the day, he would also do his "Rest of the Story".

Paul Harvey may not have had the following of say a Rush Limbaugh, but I don't remember anyone not liking his slant on the news and his final...

"Good day"

WOWZERS!!! Thanks so much, Jim! Mr. Harvey touched a great many lives over the years; I appreciate your sharing your story with us!

AWWW! How precious! Thanks, Cheryl! And looky - Miriam just matches today's Newsletter!

2. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, May 15, 16, and 17, 2009 - The Hampton High School Class of 1964 will hold its 45-Year Reunion at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. For details, see: www.hamptonhigh1964.com - HAMPTON HIGH SCHOOL - CLASS OF 1964

3. Friday and Saturday, September 4 and 5 (Labor Day Weekend), 2009 - The Class of 1969 will hold its 40-Year Reunion at the Point Plaza Hotel, Newport News, VA. For details, contact Jean Baker Howell at hokie13mom@cox.net - OPEN TO ALL NNHS ALUMNI

Y'all take care of each other! TYPHOONS FOREVER! We'll Always Have Buckroe!

What a delightful photo image you posted in the Newsletter!!! The locomotive from 1912 in Wise County, VA submitted by Linda Mae Bond Crayton ('66) of VA is a real beauty. Isn't it, though?!? (Thanks again, Linda May! )
		ca. 1912 - Wise Co., VA

		Pictured are Asst. Principal Miriam Howard (our daughter) and Principal Richard Carter (husband of Lynn Forbes Carter, Class of '66). Peace & Blessing, Cheryl